Ribbons and Lace
by Sora Kohaku
Summary: Harry wanted to be loved more than anything, and Petunia, well Petunia really wanted a daughter. So, Harry made a wish, and for once it was granted. But, it won't make things any easier. Partial AU. Female Harry story.
1. Chapter 1

Sora Kohaku: **THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN AS OF 7/25/09; YOU MIGHT WANT TO REREAD IT!!!**

Summary: Harry wanted to be loved more than anything, and Petunia, well Petunia really wanted a daughter. So, he made a wish. Partial AU. Female Harry story, no pairings.

Warnings: Occness, might be considered femslash or slash at some parts because of minor crushes, however the romance aspect of this story will mostly be ignored.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; goodness knows it wouldn't exist if it was up to me to write it, being the lazy person I am.

"**It's not normal," the Dursleys despair!**

~xXxXxXx~

Harry Potter was a meek boy, a quiet little thing that mostly kept to his self. Things were better off if he did, after all, if he kept to himself his cousin Dudley, boy who at the age of four closely resembled an albino whale, would usually leave him alone. At times, when Harry really didn't want to deal with another bruised arm or an atomic wedgie Dudley would amazingly walk past him as if he wasn't there.

As usual Harry was holed up in his small room -- a cupboard under the stairs really—flipping through some of Dudley's old unwanted children's books -- he was trying to teach himself since his Aunt Petunia had refused him, saying that was why he was going to school next year -- and listening as his Aunt chatted in the parlor with some of her friends over afternoon tea. In this particular instance a neighbor from across the street was over. Mrs. Lorraine Johnson who lived over in number nine, Privet Drive, was excitedly speaking of her impending motherhood as she gently wrapped a thin arm around her bulging belly, her eyes sparkling with glee.

"We're not sure what we're going to name her yet, I suggested Amelie after my grandmother, but he wants to go with something more modern. It doesn't matter to me all that much, I've waited a long while to have a daughter, it so was difficult to convince Richard that it was time to have children. I just can't wait until I'm able to dress my adorable daughter in little lace dresses and satin ribbons. "the woman positively squealed.

She sighed contently into her teacup before nearly dropping it. "Oh! She just kicked! My, my, she's a strong healthy girl. Do you want to feel it?"

"Oh, really!" The ladies all crooned together as if they were of one mind. They all crowded around her swollen stomach taking turns feeling the baby's kicks. Eventually they got back to their seats and began discussing whether or not they would ever have more children.

Unfortunately, Petunia Dursley was not one who was able to say they would or even could. Mrs. Tunsen an older married lady not capable of having any more children herself, having past her prime, had to point out her fellow companion in her sorrows.

"Petunia, dear, weren't you told that you could not have any more children?" Mrs. Dursley stiffened for a moment giving the other woman a shaky smile.

"Ah, yes, he did." Originally, Petunia had not wanted others to know, but it was discovered regardless. And, after garnering much sympathy for her poor situation she had for a while, so to say, milked it for all that it was worth. It wasn't as if it mattered if she couldn't have another baby, her husband Vernon did not want another mouth to feed. It was better this way; they could put all their time and energy into their precious angel instead.

Though at times, she did find herself wanting and imaging having a little girl of her own to primp and pamper.

"You poor thing. Too bad that child that your sister dumped on you couldn't have been a girl, then you wouldn't have to raise two young boys at the same time, "another woman stated.

Mrs. Tunsen shushed her, "Marion I'm sure that boy can hear you." They had all seen him wander towards the kitchen earlier when they had arrived, the Dursleys' awkward nephew was known to play in the cupboard under the stairs.

Petunia didn't bother to say otherwise, but she personally agreed with Marion.

"It's true though, things would have been much easier for Petunia if he had been a girl. It's so much trouble having two boys….I really wanted a daughter." The woman seemed more distressed with her own situation; she herself had a five year old and a seven year old boy.

With that all of the ladies gave their condolences before continuing onto the subject of their gardens.

In the cupboard young Harry closed his cousin's book before turning off the light and laying down covering himself with a tatty blanket with one too many moth ridden holes.

While laid there he imagined that he had been born a girl that his Aunt Petunia would dress him in lace and ribbons like the other lady had said she would her daughter. For a while he imagined what life would be like if his Aunt Petunia loved him dearly like she did Dudley. Or, even cared for him at all.

Harder than he had ever wished for anything he wished, if he could not have parents that he wanted. Then he wished that he could be a girl so that his Aunt would finally want him.

~xXxXx~

Upon waking up in his cupboard to the shouts of his Aunt, Harry hit his head on the low ceiling.

"Boy! You fell asleep! Get up and start peeling the potatoes for dinner!"

Rising carefully this time, wary of bumping his head, he made a request to go to the bathroom. She allowed him to, telling him to hurry up and be sure to wash his hands as she didn't want to have to throw out the potatoes because he was being filthy.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia", he intoned before making his way clumsily to the toilet, nearly tripping over himself several times. Harry wondered why he was having so much trouble keeping his legs straight, maybe he had bumped his head harder than he thought he had. He sometimes had trouble walking when his cousin would push him down and he would hit his head…for a while afterwards things would be spinning. But, things weren't spinning now, so maybe that wasn't it.

Harry who unlike his cousin picked up potty training quickly was smart enough to figure out something was wrong as soon as he pulled down his pants. He was missing something vital to relieving himself….

Harry pulled his shorts back up before running to his Aunt in the kitchen. "I didn't hear you wash your hands young man nor flush the toilet!"

"But, Aunt Petunia I can't go pee pee!"

"Why not? Didn't you say you needed too?! You're not a baby anymore. You should be able to figure out it you need to go."

Young Harry was beside himself, he didn't know how to explain what was wrong, so he decided it was best to just show her before dropping his trousers. "I'm missing my wee wee!"

His aunt yelled about decency before coming to the realization that, yes, her nephew was correct....he was in fact missing something necessary to be a male.

And, what was more, that it was replaced by very feminine parts.

Petunia to her credit did not pass out or collapse even though she felt very weak in the knees.

Vernon would definitely not like this.

~xXxXx~

Harry laid on his cot contemplating why Petunia was making it out to be such a big deal....after all he had finally figured out how he was suppose to use the bathroom-- believe it or not, he now had to sit on the toilet to use it.

Nevertheless, as soon as Dudley had come home from his play date she had sent him to his room forbidden to come down until said otherwise. Of course, Dudley made a fit about this, throwing his body to the floor and wildly flailing his arms and legs about. But, his aunt would have none of that and with amazing strength that Harry didn't know she had, bodily dragged her brat of a son up the stairs to his room. It was understandable why Harry was amazed, after all his cousin was nearly the same weight as his mother.

Vernon Dursley came home shortly after four o' clock to a nearly hysterical wife. She could not get the words to come out no matter how hard she tried, instead she squawked almost like the bird Harry thought she resembled. The burly man was nearly ready to shake it out of her, he was so impatient and frustrated. In the end she decided it was best to just show him, and she nervously pulled down her nephew's shorts.

"Look! Just look what the boy has done!"

Vernon stood aghast at the view, he could only manage to stumble over his words, "He—this boy....how?" Petunia could only guess at the cause, and she quietly hissed so the boy could not hear her, "Maybe, maybe, this has to do with his freakishness."

The blond man knew what she was speaking of.....this was about magic, _that _freakishness. He felt the strong temptation to throttle all the magic out of him, but the young boy no longer being a boy was off limits. Vernon's mother had been a proud woman who raised him to never lay a hand on a lady, and undeniably even if he was a male earlier, he was not one now.

"Change yourself back," the man stated, forcibly keeping his voice calm. The little girl with wide green eyes looked up at him in confusion, she timidly told him—wary of his anger-- she didn't know how she even ended up this way, much less how to change back. Petunia seemed to fall apart even more at this.

To resist the urge to start swinging his first Vernon stormed into the kitchen to pour himself a strong drink. When he came back nursing a glass, he'd lost the purple tinge to his face and was beginning to turn back to the usual pink. He told Harry one more time, "Turn yourself back."

"I can't, " was the immediate reply. Harry wasn't about to tell anyone that he had actually wished that he was a girl, there was no telling what his punishment would be for it. Besides, he had already tried to wish himself back previously, when his aunt had pulled him out from the cupboard earlier and had progressively become more distressed as it came closer to time for Vernon to get home.

Over from her seat on the couch Petunia cried through her hands, "What are we to do? The boy has to attend school next year, and they do check ups on the students. They're going to wonder why we dress him up as a boy if he's a girl. And we can't hide something like this from the neighbors....oh, the neighbors already know what he is, how are we going to tell them why we're suddenly dressing Harry up as girl!!"

Vernon couldn't answer his wife, instead he cocked back his head and finished the rest of his drink in one go. "How am I supposed to know, "the man said resentfully, glancing at this empty glass as if it had forsaken him, "Just get that vermin out of here, I don't want to look at his face."

"And, bring me my bottle of rum," he added as a second thought.

Petunia raised her to carefully study her husband for a moment before shuffling the girl to the cupboard. Prior to closing the door she gave Harry a word of warning. "It would be best if you kept your mouth shut, if you make any noise things will be worse off for you."

Harry almost thought she sounded concerned for him, even though she never had previously so he couldn't be sure. He felt a trickle of fear flow into him—that was right—she had never bothered to be concerned. Could things really get bad enough to make her worry for ever his safety? He wasn't quite sure what to think of this.

In the parlor Petunia handed her husband the glass decanter full of his favorite brand of rum. She warily eyeballed him as he downed another glass, he hadn't even been this angry when Harry was first dropped on their doorstep, really in comparison he had been down right cheerful. He had never been one for the drink preferring to keep in control of all his facilities; Petunia did not doubt very much that her husband would be a violent drunk. Vernon often yelled at their nephew for even the slightest infraction, so she hoped for Harry's sake that he kept quiet. The woman didn't think she had the ability in her to go against her husband he became enraged.

She tried to not think of that possibility instead hurrying to the kitchen to make plates of food for her husband and son. The woman set Vernon's down on the glass coffee table in front of him, and went on her way back to the kitchen to make her Ickle Dudleykins a glass of his favorite carbonated soda, only pausing for a moment by the stairs to make sure she couldn't hear a peep from the cupboard.

Thankfully, it was silent.

Unfortunately, Dudley was not. When she went to take him his food he begged to be let out of his room, but his mother refused him. "Your father is very angry right now, it would be best if you stayed up here and allowed him some quiet alone time."

"I don't care!" Dudley screeched before swiping his plate into the trash bin beside his desk, he looked regretfully at the wasted food until he thought of the fact that he could just eat his cousin's portion later. "Why do I have to stay up here because Harry was bad!?" After all, it was almost always Harry's fault his father got angry, other times it was for something that he himself did but blamed on his slight cousin anyways.

Petunia for the moment left the plate where it was; instead she took her time convincing her son that if he stayed upstairs for the night a played with his toys he would get significantly more dessert the next night.

She let out a silent sigh of relief when she returned downstairs spying her husband cutting through his steak quite viciously. Petunia had half expected to come back to her husband throttling their nephew—niece, as it was now. She settled down next to Vernon after fixing up her own plate. The next few minutes were spent in silence except for the sound of clinking silverware against china, she had almost forgot what had happened until her husband broke the quiet.

"The boy—girl—"He struggled on what to refer to his nephew now, "—thing is to stay in _its_ room until we can figure something out." He dropped his utensils loudly onto his plate, and made to get up. "Going to go make sure Dudley knows not to say anything, " he mumbled almost incoherently, making his way upstairs, afterward for which he planned to collapse on his bed where he would pretend that nothing like his nephew suddenly becoming a girl had happened. There he could pretend his evening had been normal. There he could just forget that his nephew had ever been a boy, hell, he'd convince Dudley that Harry had actually been born Harriet and they were just fond of referring to Harriet as Harry. Ignoring of course, all those times Harry had been referred to as boy. Yeah, he could do that.

Petunia watched as her husband made his way up the stairs slowly, a strange look like constipation on his face. Though he could have been thinking about Harry, he tended to get a face like that when he thought of their unwanted baggage.

Speaking of Harry, Petunia remembered that their gender switching nephew hadn't eaten since that morning. He was probably starving. She made him a sandwich and a half glass of water warning Harry that was all she was going to get since she couldn't come out later to use the bathroom then she reheated the leftovers for Dudley after remembering he hadn't yet ate either. By the time she got up the stairs Vernon had finished his talk and her Duddekins was so ravenous that he kept taking side glances at the food in the trash.

"Dudley dear, eat your food then go to bed."

He quickly shoveled the offered food into his mouth enjoying every bit or it (more so because Harry probably didn't get any), his mother rinsed the dishes and they all set out for sleep. Except for Harry.

He laid on this cot thankful for the small mercy he'd received. Things seemed to already be looking up as his Uncle had not disciplined him this time around—and probably wouldn't from what he had heard—for something that he was almost certain was his fault—for once. Not only that, but his Aunt had also gave him full sized sandwich with shaved chicken, tomatoes, lettuce and even mustard (the fact that she remembered he like mustard amazed him more) not just pieces of bread with old green lettuce between them. Though he had been certain after his Aunt's warning that his Uncle would come after him with one of his fancy walking sticks that he like to pretend he was high class society with. Harry understood that he had gotten off easy, though he worried if he wouldn't pay for it later.

~xXxXxXx~

I hope this Vernon is a little more realistic than the other, the last one kinda bothered me.


	2. Freaks need not apply

Sora Kohaku: Okay, then! Thank you everyone who reviewed the original first chapter, I don't know why you guys like it so much. I'm just amazed at how well it was received; I've never had one of my stories get so much attention.

**I did in fact change the ending of the first chapter a **_**lot**_** so go reread it if you haven't already done so!**

Sorry it took so long. I've rewrote the first chapter so many times it's not even funny. I was going to make this into an extremely depressing story, but I changed my mind. I've had such a serious writer's block for months, sorry, again. Chapter three should be out in shorter time than this one though. XD

Same warnings and disclaimer apply. So, let's not waste anymore time.

Onward, ho!!!

**Freaks need not apply.**

~xXxXxXx~

The next morning was normal enough. Vernon went off to work, Dudley went over to play at another little boy's place, and Petunia pulled Harry out of the closet and went about altering one of her older cotton dresses to fit Harry. This wasn't actually that normal, but Petunia insisted on some sort of normalcy and little girls normally wore dresses. Harry's ratty old shoes didn't go well with the blue floral print dress so she wasn't wearing any; regardless Harry really did look like a girl, even if all attempts made by Petunia to tame the girl's wild nest of hair failed. After giving up she made a note to let Harry grow out her hair in hopes of getting it to do something besides go every which way. With that completed Petunia started on thinking about what to do with her nephew—er, niece. Whatever it was, it was going to take some getting used to.

"Well, I can't have you go outside to weed the garden as we aren't supposed to have a niece so I guess you'll have to stay inside and do housework. You'll have to learn how to do it if you're to stay this way." Harry honestly didn't think being a girl mattered in that regard; she would have probably had him learn it anyways.

They set about cleaning the various rooms in the household and within hours the place was sparkling clean with dinner nearly complete. Petunia had it all planned out, a nice dinner in front of the telly to relax as a family before their problems resurfaced and they were forced to deal with them once again. She had Harry take her dinner early, with a little more food than the girl was used to and shut her up in Dudley's second bedroom that they had cleared out. If she were up there they wouldn't be able to her the sounds of her clumsy movements in the dark cupboard. Out of sight and sound meant out of mind. Harry was only allowed to touch the books in the room, but he didn't mind, it was easier to read if he didn't have to worry about being caught doing so.

However, downstairs things were not going as hoped, Vernon was still aggravated and was snapping a lot more than usual. Dudley in response to his father ordering him to eat his veggies had grabbed the remote and was flipping through the channels on full volume. Petunia could only hope the neighbors couldn't hear the racket as her husband yelled at their only son to pick a channel and turn it down. Upstairs Harry was completely absorbed in his reading and couldn't even hear as Dudley got his comeuppance for once.

Vernon had finally wrestled the remote from his son's hand, but only after being hit more than a dozen times by the flailing limbs and a couple with the remote he had been trying so hard to grab. He wallowed in his victory for only a moment. On the TV, it showed an image of a person going under the knife; it was crazy what some people would do for looks. Though he admitted to himself that he probably would have done it too if he had the money. A tummy tuck perhaps.

"Vernon, honey, change the channel. I don't want Duddy to see this and get nightmares."

He made to change the channel, but didn't get very far before the over voice caught his attention. It was saying how the young man on the screen was undergoing genital reconstruction surgery. He felt a bit sicken as they cut him open feeling the urge to press the directional button, but unable to move his hand or stop watching. Petunia was asking him to change it again, her weak stomach not able to handle the disturbing images when he heard it. It could have possibly been the solution to all their problems.

"Adrian Homes suffers from Progestin-induced virilisation, a condition in which the unborn child was exposed to androgen danazol for the treatment of endometriosis. Exposure to danazol after the eighth week of pregnancy in some cases caused masculinization of external genitalia of female fetuses. Holmes is a very advanced case in which caused her to be initially identified as male, and after many years she has decided to undergo this risky operation in order to insure a normal life….."

Vernon shut of the TV and gave his wife a triumph look.

"Petunia I think I know what we're going to tell the neighbors. I'll use the computer at work and get all the necessary information.

His wife stared at him shock, what her husband suggested was far from normal, but completely possibly. As long as things were kept low key it could work.

~xXxXx~

Harry was surprised when his Uncle came upstairs and in a disturbingly cheerful tone of voice explained their plan. They were going to pretend that Harry had a rare defect caused by a prescription drug and they were going to keep him locked up for a few weeks or so while he "underwent" his surgery then reintroduce everyone to the now "female" Harry. And, then when Harry went to school they would pretend that there was error on his birth certificate that went unnoticed until they were applying for school. Apparently, since few people actually knew (excluding those in the neighborhood) they had a nephew, they could easily avoid the school finding out by asking those few people to never mention Harry's change as it made _her_ very sensitive to talk about it. This way they wouldn't have to involve any of Harry's kind….though Harry had a feeling that he wasn't supposed to hear that part and pretended to not have, he was just happy to know he wasn't going to be locked up for the rest of his life for being a freak as his Uncle stated.

If Harry was surprised before then he was shocked when his uncle said that he would be moving into Dudley's second bedroom, he was also told he was forbidden to look out the windows and to expect severe punishment if he did. It wasn't much of a problem for Harry whose previous room had no window at all. As his uncle left Harry wondered what he had done to get so lucky, his second thought was significantly more depressing. He wondered how long that would last, and how much would he suffer for it later.

It was a very serious thought for a four year old, though Harry was not an ordinary child, after all, what normal boy could wake up one day and be a girl?

Still he was happy to see his ratty cot moved into the room, though it made him realize just how small it was. Dudley was not so happy, even though the room had little more than a pile of children's book, some legos, a few wooden blocks, and Dudley's baby clothes that Petunia couldn't bear to throw out. The cot that Harry had in the room had in fact been Dudley's toddler bed that he had quickly surpassed the weight limit for (the Dursley's precious pumpkin now had a sturdy twin size affair). Albeit, Dudley put a great fuss about it, the winner of that argument was actually Petunia. He had calmed down once his mother had promised that he and a friend could spend the whole day at the amusement park for his birthday, along with getting all his presents.

Harry was in awe, his aunt had never done these types of things for him as a boy. She had actually fought with her precious baby whale…for Harry!! Or, Harriet, as his aunt and uncle had been practicing calling him.

~xXxXx~

The next morning was even more normal than the last, a sort of calm had settled over the Dursleys as they no longer had to worry about how to explain their strange circumstances. And, all that without getting even _stranger_ people involved.

Today they would start to spread the word of their "nephew's" operation, Petunia would tell her friends at tea time knowing that as gossiping housewives that everyone in the neighborhood would know by the next day. It was just _so _difficult to be strong for their niece who was going through this horrible ordeal; it would never be so easy to garner their neighbors' sympathies.

Shortly before lunch Petunia fed the children before sending her son up to nap and Harry to the upstairs room with a few crayons and some unlined paper to occupy her time and not cause any ruckus. He took to them right away drawing a round golden bird with fluttery wings in a green field that look more like a matted carpet. Harry had a great deal of imagination, but it tended to get him in all sorts of trouble with his family. Once, he had told his aunt that he felt as if this one cat he occasionally saw sitting on the garden fence was starring at him as he played in the dirt, but she had just smack his bottom after turning pale and told him not make up such lies. Cats did no such things. He drew the cat too, gray spotted with black squares around the eyes almost like glasses. Several times Harry heard the door open as she colored, it must have been his Aunt Petunia as she invited her friends in. For a while all that could be made clear was the high pitch twittering, but even Harry noticed as a hush fell over the house. He strained especially hard for any sounds, but he was sent for a loop as it erupted into an uproar downstairs, he couldn't help but wonder if that meant the ladies hadn't believed his aunt. But, things quieted down, and the ladies didn't leave for quite some time. Dudley slept through the whole thing soundly.

A couple of hours later when Harry had nearly exhausted his paper supply Petunia opened the door with a satisfied smile, a cup of milk, and a plate chocolate biscuits balanced in her arms. "Don't drink the milk too fast, you might get ill," she said before she fluttered out of the room quite light-footed.

Things must have gone very well, even better than expected perhaps. Harry took a drink from his glass, almost spitting it out as his aunt whorled suddenly back into the room telling her that young ladies didn't gulp they "sipped most delicately".

And, that was that.

~xXxXxXx~

Is anyone willing to be my beta? I need someone who can fix my horrible grammar, watch out for typos and help me to get my sentences to flow better…frankly I'm not pleased with how it looks. Maybe even broaden my vocabulary…?

This chapter was nowhere near the length I wanted, but I give up…this thing just didn't want to any longer. The next one should be better about it, I hope. XD

Next Chapter: What's this? Harry is going to be celebrating his new existence as a girl along with Mrs. Johnson who will be celebrating the coming birth of her child? A joint Baby Shower/Renewal party! Things aren't going to go as expected for anyone, especially since things seem to be going _too _well.


End file.
